Teen Gothic

My friends always describe the music i play as weird so I need some recommendations to slowly expose them to goth. I’ll make bauhaus fans of them yet!

Or anything similar or interpretable as that really. Just something to feel miserable to! I don’t think it’s easy to find songs about kind of specific situations so I’d hope anyone here could perhaps help me out. I don’t have other wishes for subgenre or anything else. Just has to be about title. Thank you to anyone that can help out here.

I’m very new to goth music, although I’ve listened a bit to some goth and goth-adjacent bands (including Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, and Joy Division). I’m trying to find new bands to listen to, but I always get a little nervous when looking into new bands of any sort, since a lot of musicians (especially more “edgy” artists) tend to lean into more blasphemous/anti-religious themes/motifs either for political reasons or as an outlet for religious trauma.

While I understand why this might appeal to some people, I’m a Christian with a history of really bad religious OCD, and I’m worried that listening to artists who lean too far into those sort of themes/motifs could cause me to have a relapse. I was wondering if anyone could recommend some “safe” bands for me to listen to, with that in mind. (I’m find with songs that criticize aspects of my religion, but not ones that are just outright mocking it or saying my religion is fake, since those could be legitimately dangerous to my mental health).

i was invited to a goth event with my friend tonight and i want to go but i’m nervous. i don’t own anything black and i can’t change at the moment. would i be judged if i went to a goth event in just a t shirt and shorts? i really like the goth scene and i want to get involved in it but i’m scared people will judge me.

I'm especially into things like powerviolence/grind/d beat, but generally anything across the extreme punk rock/hardcore/metal realm. I'm looking for goth music that's also maybe inspired or adjacent to that, or that you just think would be enjoyable for people that also enjoy that stuff. Also my friend showed me 45 Grave and I really enjoyed them.

By the way there's this band from Albany NY called Wet Specimens that fits this category, it's the only one I can think of myself lol, try them out, they're sick.

I'm somewhat new to the music and I'm just genuinly curious what makes someone goth to you, because I've heard different things at this point

For me, the weirdest thing was when a classmate said that the reason i only dress in black was because "that's the color of death". The reality is that's the only color that looks good on me. I would like to know your stories

I just discovered The Snake Corps via the Spotify algorithm doing it's thing … was wondering why I'd never heard them before and then realized that I basically had since they were doing a number of SL&G songs.

And then I found via Wikipedia that the band was actually made up members of SL&G? I'm not really clear on the chronology of which band was formed when, does anyone have any insights?

NONE OF WHAT FOLLOWS IS INTENDED AS A COMPLAINT OR CRITICISM. I know some people will probably be a little sensitive about this stuff, so I think it's worth stating that from the outset. I don't think The Sisters of Mercy have to work harder or be better. I don't think they owe us anything. If Eldritch & Company are happy, that's good enough for me. I'm largely just curious about why they operate the way they do. I don't read interviews or articles about the band, so I'm not sure if any of this has ever been addressed.

That said, I went to the Boston and NYC shows last month, and I got into a discussion about the band with a friend who picked me up from the airport. He owned and enjoyed Floodland, but knew little else about The Sisters. For the life of me I couldn't really explain certain decisions they've made over the years, namely stuff like:

They have not released a studio album in almost 30 years. Clearly they've been writing new material all this time, and performing it live. Why aren't there studio tracks? Eldritch seemed pretty fed up with record labels in the 90's, so that was understandable at the time. But we now live in an era of self-published music. Surely they could record stuff and sell it digitally, or sell self-pressed CDs at live shows. I would love to hear what their new stuff sounds like with proper production. I think in interviews Eldritch has made excuses about the cost of making new recordings, but certainly far less notable acts have managed to release music despite the cost.

They have virtually no presence on the internet. There is no official account for the band on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The Sisters' official web page was pretty clearly designed in 1999, and hasn't been significantly updated since. Visiting their site is like stepping into a time machine, in a pleasant way. I kind of like how weirdly sterile and threadbare it is. Their merchandise page only accepts payment in UK pounds sterling, which is going to inherently limit the number of people buying merch. I don't want or expect them to be crazed capitalists, but it'd be nice if I could buy stuff without jumping through hoops.

They stopped touring in America for 15 years. The Sisters used to swing through North America every 2-3 years in the 2000's. I went to a few shows at the House of Blues Orlando during this time, and admittedly each one had diminishing returns in terms of crowd size. The first show I went to was crazy-packed, and the last one had a pretty sparse crowd. Maybe they thought a hiatus was necessary, and that their American audience was dwindling? Maybe they just run a lean-and-mean operation, and doing the Europe/Latin America festival scene was easier or more profitable? The 2023 American tour seems to have gone pretty well, so I hope they will come back soon.

The "new" logo. Why was the fairly beloved old Merciful Release logo replaced with the weird alien design? Aliens were in vogue in the 90's so I kinda get it, but we're 20 years on now and the "new" design feels much more dated and passe than the old one. Why do they insist on the newer logo when the old one is much more beloved and recognizable?

Is there any rhyme or reason to all this? Or should I just chalk it up as "Andrew Eldritch is a weirdo with strong convictions we'll never understand"?